Robin and I have been enjoying a very nice holiday in the Catalina Foothills of Arizona. We've had much wine, beer, bike riding, and even some new books. Still, I am looking forward to returning to the snow and some skiing.
Full trip report, complete with hiking photos and biking videos, to follow. Happy New Year!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
1 to 7?
This is the range of ice and/or snow that we could get tonight. I find it simultaneously frustrating and comforting that no one really knows anything when it comes to weather.
Last night I got an easy ski in with Steve. They had groomed the snow out at Ashton, which made for some iffy conditions on the classic skis. Still, we figure at least ten people were out skiing on it yesterday, one with quite the headlamp.
So now it is a very packed down course with a little bit of grass and some sporadic dirt mounds. Local groomer Wayne F. says that it should help us keep a nice base up regardless of what falls from the sky tonight. Lets hope he is right, because the Iowa City Cross Country Ski Time Trials are abrewin and should happen soon, so we need our snow.
Last night I got an easy ski in with Steve. They had groomed the snow out at Ashton, which made for some iffy conditions on the classic skis. Still, we figure at least ten people were out skiing on it yesterday, one with quite the headlamp.
So now it is a very packed down course with a little bit of grass and some sporadic dirt mounds. Local groomer Wayne F. says that it should help us keep a nice base up regardless of what falls from the sky tonight. Lets hope he is right, because the Iowa City Cross Country Ski Time Trials are abrewin and should happen soon, so we need our snow.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Now Just Waning
Both the moon and the snow. And I couldn't even get a shot of the full moon rising because of the thick snowless clouds.
I went back out to Ashton for some skiing Friday evening. Since it has been so cold lately the conditions were rather unchanged from Tuesday. Part of the tracks on the upper west side had some more grass poking through, but the other side of the trail offered some decent coverage.
Still, I spent most of my time on the south end of the course working on my double poling. Occasionally I could get some kick, but I pretty much had to time that perfectly and get a little lucky.
Today and tomorrow are supposed to be quite warm with some non-snow precip, so we will not be skiing for a little while. I think next week I'll either suffer through some frigid townie rides or possibly set up the rollers in the basement.
Because tomorrow there will only be grass.
I went back out to Ashton for some skiing Friday evening. Since it has been so cold lately the conditions were rather unchanged from Tuesday. Part of the tracks on the upper west side had some more grass poking through, but the other side of the trail offered some decent coverage.
Still, I spent most of my time on the south end of the course working on my double poling. Occasionally I could get some kick, but I pretty much had to time that perfectly and get a little lucky.
Today and tomorrow are supposed to be quite warm with some non-snow precip, so we will not be skiing for a little while. I think next week I'll either suffer through some frigid townie rides or possibly set up the rollers in the basement.
Because tomorrow there will only be grass.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Waxing and Waning
On our Tuesday ski, Steve and I spent some time talking about wax. Apparently Brian E got some new skis and sent them in to get some serious wax work done to saturate the bases. The Rock says it can take up to a full day of waxing to really get a new set of skis going (and he's Canadian, so that has to be right). Other than easy application waxes, I had never put any kind of wax on my skis, and I could see the pasty white dryness on the bases. Not healthy.
Thankfully my wonderful parents helped fund my continually developing interest in all things nordic by contributing to my new birthday wax kit (tea not included).
Tuesday night was the first time I put it to use. I cleaned up my skate skis. Then I put a thick layer of base prep down,
scraped,
wiped, brushed, and wiped again.
Already I could see some improvement as the bases took on a dark sheen. So I then added a thick layer of cold blue wax (good for 21 to 10 degrees), completed the whole process, and followed that up with some purple (28 to 18 degrees). I figured any wax was better than what I had going, so I tried some exploring.
I had many reasons for my combo. Multiple layers would allow me to practice, and multiple layers of different waxes would prevent me from using up all of one type. I knew Wednesday's temps were supposed to be in the mid 20s, so I thought that the purple wax would be just right. The only problem was that we really didn't have much snow. We had more ice than snow. So I put down the layer of blue wax because it is a much harder (and hopefully sturdier?) wax.
I think the skis were the fastest they had ever been. And that was on some pretty awful conditions and with some iffy technique. The first skate session of the year with fast skis on icy terrain is not something I would recommend. But I only crashed once.
As it got dark I had some trouble seeing the super rutted out trail. So instead of skating some more I just worked on my double poling in the frozen classic tracks that people have been making all week. The new wax kept me sliding really fast, but just because it felt fast doesn't mean it was easy.
For twenty minutes I double poled back and forth along the nicest track on the course. As my triceps and abs burned all I could think about was a moment in Bill McKibben's cross country ski book Long Distance. On a trip near Yellowstone National Park, McKibben and a friend decided to ski over to some hot springs. I forget if they were 25 kilometers away, or 25 miles, but either way it was far. And the track was solid ice that provided no kick whatsoever. So the two of them double poled the entire way there, and the entire way back. I could barely last the twenty minutes I did, and I doubt I even covered 2 K. I am sure as my waxing improves I will no doubt be able to double pole amazing distances as well, but first I just have to get over some soreness.
Editors Note: The waxing pictures are a recreation of Tuesday night's waxing session. And the skis seen here are, in fact, Robin's.
Thankfully my wonderful parents helped fund my continually developing interest in all things nordic by contributing to my new birthday wax kit (tea not included).
Tuesday night was the first time I put it to use. I cleaned up my skate skis. Then I put a thick layer of base prep down,
scraped,
wiped, brushed, and wiped again.
Already I could see some improvement as the bases took on a dark sheen. So I then added a thick layer of cold blue wax (good for 21 to 10 degrees), completed the whole process, and followed that up with some purple (28 to 18 degrees). I figured any wax was better than what I had going, so I tried some exploring.I had many reasons for my combo. Multiple layers would allow me to practice, and multiple layers of different waxes would prevent me from using up all of one type. I knew Wednesday's temps were supposed to be in the mid 20s, so I thought that the purple wax would be just right. The only problem was that we really didn't have much snow. We had more ice than snow. So I put down the layer of blue wax because it is a much harder (and hopefully sturdier?) wax.
I think the skis were the fastest they had ever been. And that was on some pretty awful conditions and with some iffy technique. The first skate session of the year with fast skis on icy terrain is not something I would recommend. But I only crashed once.
As it got dark I had some trouble seeing the super rutted out trail. So instead of skating some more I just worked on my double poling in the frozen classic tracks that people have been making all week. The new wax kept me sliding really fast, but just because it felt fast doesn't mean it was easy.
For twenty minutes I double poled back and forth along the nicest track on the course. As my triceps and abs burned all I could think about was a moment in Bill McKibben's cross country ski book Long Distance. On a trip near Yellowstone National Park, McKibben and a friend decided to ski over to some hot springs. I forget if they were 25 kilometers away, or 25 miles, but either way it was far. And the track was solid ice that provided no kick whatsoever. So the two of them double poled the entire way there, and the entire way back. I could barely last the twenty minutes I did, and I doubt I even covered 2 K. I am sure as my waxing improves I will no doubt be able to double pole amazing distances as well, but first I just have to get over some soreness.
Editors Note: The waxing pictures are a recreation of Tuesday night's waxing session. And the skis seen here are, in fact, Robin's.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Desperation
Anticipation can only last so long. I guess for me it is about 10 days or so. In that time we have had many near misses in the storm department. Many of the weather reports talked of nice 2 to 3 inch snowfalls, and one even suggested as much as 5. None of those really happened. One day we got about an inch and a half. That was certainly enough to get started. I skied on Thursday and Friday and saw many people out enjoying themselves.
The snow continued to harden a bit with the dropping temps, but it was holding up well enough. Then last night we had some misty frozen rain for many, many hours. I wasn't too concerned as the weatherperson once again said we should get about 2 inches. I think we ended up with maybe a tenth of an inch. I sat at work watching the storm system swing east of us.
But in the afternoon Steve sent an emailing asking if I was up for skiing. He mentioned that the Eppens were a definite. Well that changed everything for me. If others were interested in seeking some awful conditions then so was I.
It was mostly ice with grass poking through, but a couple of the track sections allowed for some decent kick and glide. So it was better than it looked. And I got to work on my double poling quite a bit, which is good, because it needs a lot of work.
All in all we trudged through the ice for an hour. It was my fourth ski of the year. Not a great ski, but it will have to do. And since the forecast does not hold anything promising in the near future, I just might have to go back tomorrow and see how the skate skis do. We'll see how hte motivation holds up.
The snow continued to harden a bit with the dropping temps, but it was holding up well enough. Then last night we had some misty frozen rain for many, many hours. I wasn't too concerned as the weatherperson once again said we should get about 2 inches. I think we ended up with maybe a tenth of an inch. I sat at work watching the storm system swing east of us.
But in the afternoon Steve sent an emailing asking if I was up for skiing. He mentioned that the Eppens were a definite. Well that changed everything for me. If others were interested in seeking some awful conditions then so was I.
It was mostly ice with grass poking through, but a couple of the track sections allowed for some decent kick and glide. So it was better than it looked. And I got to work on my double poling quite a bit, which is good, because it needs a lot of work.
All in all we trudged through the ice for an hour. It was my fourth ski of the year. Not a great ski, but it will have to do. And since the forecast does not hold anything promising in the near future, I just might have to go back tomorrow and see how the skate skis do. We'll see how hte motivation holds up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
